CYLICHNIDAE

  Acteocina mucronata
(Philippi, 1849)

Relevant Synonyms
Bulla mucronata Philippi, 1849

Misidentification
? Utriculastra knockeri (Smith E. A., 1872) [Hoenselaar and Gulden, 1991]

 photos: G. Buzzuro - E. Greppi / S. Gofas    

SHORT DESCRIPTION
Shell small, solid, cylindrical, somewhat oblong, with short spire and larval whorls projecting from the apex. About 4 whorls, with a subsutural channel bordered by a strong keel. Surface smooth, with growth lines barely visible, except for the subsutural channel that bears fine axial plicae. Aperture elongated, nearly as long as the body whorl, constricted above and dilated toward the base. Lip simple, straight, a little flexuous in the middle. Columella concave, with one fold and without umbilicus. The soft parts of this species are unknown. The animal in other species of this genus can retract completely into the shell; the foot is ovate in outline and lacks parapodia; the head shield is short, quadrangular, divided into two erected processes behind, near the base, where the eyes are situated.

color : white.

common size : up to 5.4 mm.

DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS
Acteocina mucronata shows a charasteristic mucronate apex, a concave part below the suture and plications at the upper part of the body whorl. The shell bears some resemblance to the Mediterranean species Retusa mamillata (Philippi, 1836), but differs in being somewhat bigger, less fragile, and more carinated and plicated at the suture. The closest species seems to be the west African Acteocina knockeri (Smith E.A.,1872), which is quite similar but does not occur further north of Mauritania.

BIOLOGY / ECOLOGY
No living specimens have been ever found; as other species of the family, it probably feeds upon foraminiferans.

habitat : this species seems to live in soft bottoms at a moderate depth.

1st Mediterranean record
Israel, and southern Turkey, 1990 [1986].


DISTRIBUTION
Worldwide: Red Sea. Mediterranean: recorded first in 1986 from Israel and southern Turkish coast (van Aartsen et al., 1990); successive records from Lebanon (Bogi and Giannini, 1990); Cyprus (Celalupo and Quadri, 1994); Greece (Storsberg, 1997). A record of Utriculastra knockeri in Tunisia (Hoenselaar and Gulden, 1991) might be Acteocina mucronata.

ESTABLISHMENT SUCCESS
Somewhat common in the eastern Basin.

speculated reasons for success :
-

MODE OF INTRODUCTION
 Possibly via the Suez Canal.


IMPORTANCE TO HUMANS
None.


KEY REFERENCES

  • Bogi C. and Giannini F., 1990. Notes on a few molluscs, found in the Mediterranean Sea. La Conchiglia, 22 (256): 48-51.
  • Cecalupo A. and Quadri P., 1994. Contributo alla conoscenza malacologica per il nord dell'isola di Cipro. Bollettino Malacologico, 30(1-4): 5-16.
  • Storsberg J., 1997. Ein weiterer Fund von Acteocina mucronata (Philippi, 1849) i östlichen Mittelmeer (Gastropoda: Cylichnidae). Schriften zur Malakozoologie aus dem Haus dem Natur-Cismar, 10: 7-9.

 

  • van Aartsen J.J., Carrozza F. and Lindner G., 1990. Acteocina mucronata (Philippi, 1849), a recent Red Sea immigrant species in the eastern Mediterranean. Bollettino Malacologico, 25(9-12): 285-298.

FEEDBACK / COMMENTS TO AUTHORS
 


Last update : December 2003

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